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VIEWS ON AND ABOUT 

MT TOM 

AND OF MT. TOM RAILROAD 




HOLYOKE 
STREET RAILWAY COMPANY 

HOL^OKE, MASS 

COPIES OF THIS BOOK MAILED 
POSTPAID FOR THIRTY CENTS 

Copyr.ghi, 1912, by L. D I't-lhssier 
Ho [yoke. Mass 



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Rustic Arch, Mountain Park 



Copyright, Detroit Publishing Co 



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Louer Station. Mt. Tom Railway 



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THE MOUNTAIN 

N Massachusetts, near the cities of Holyoke and 
Northampton, close by "the lovely vale of the 
sweetest stream that flows, the winding and 
willowy-fringed Connecticut," stands Mt.Tom. 
It is the highest peak of the Mt. Tom range. 
It dominates the beautiful and picturesque 
section of country of which it is the central 
figure. From the south it seems solid, bold and 
defiant against the sky, a dome-shaped monu- 
ment of trap-rock and sandstone suggestive of 
the times when Nature was struggling to rescue 
from the great prehistoric ocean of ice and 
water the fair country of which it is a part, 
and to close the volcanoes that were active 
about its base. For lovers of natural scenery 
Mt. Tom has a perfect location, with the 
peculiarity of being high above the general 
level of the country near it. 

There is a tradition that in 1650 surveying 
parties, headed by Rowland Thomas and 
Elizur Holyoke, each ascended the two 
mountains on their lines of survey and named 
them Mt. Tom and Mt. Holyoke respectively. 



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THE SUMMIT 

HE summit of Mt. Tom was not easily accessible 
until the construction of the Mt. Tom Railroad 
in the year 1897. Now, the streetcars of 
Holyoke (which connect with the Springfield, 
Northampton, Westfield and Amherst systems 
of street cars, and with the Boston &^ Maine 
and N. Y., N. H. &^ Hartford railroads) run to 
the lower station of the Mt.Tom Railroad, and 
in less than ten minutes afterwards the moun- 
tain cars deliver their passengers on the summit. 
The Mt.Tom Railroad is a cable-trolley-electric, 
modern mountain railway. The cars are 
models of taste and finish, excelling in size, 
proportions and beauty all mountain cars in 
this country. The electric power is furnished 
from a power house five miles away. Each 
car is equipped with electric brakes, also w ith 
a powerful automatic grip -brake (which is 
governed by a regulator) ^^ hich causes heavy, 
strong jaws to grip a safety third-rail of the track 
whenever the wheels exceed a certain speed. 
The strong, steel cable, made of 120 wires, 
tested to many times the required strcMigth, 
passes over large sheaves at the summit. 






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Holyoke and Connecticut River, from Mt.Tom 



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ESIDES these brakes, there is a brake upon 
the cable at the top of the incline, also the 
usual electric car hand-brakes on each car. 
The "turn-out," half way up the mountain, is 
an ingenious arrangement for allowing cable- 
connected cars to be used on a single-track, 
standard-gauge railroad. The roadbed is of 
trap-rock, and the construction is strong and 
substantial in every way. The cars move up 
the rocky slope by a grade so easy as not to 
suggest even the fear of giddiness to the most 
timid. The maximum grade is but 2 1 per cent. 

The cars are connected with each other by 
a telephone system which can be used when 
cars are in motion or when still. The upper 
and lower stations are also connected by a 
separate telephone system. 

As the car approaches the summit the view 
of the surrounding country breaks suddenly 
upon the gaze of visitors. The short walk 
from the upper station of the railroad to the 
Summit House is a pleasant one, and visitors 
linger on the way to observe many points of 
interest. 



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THE SUMMIT HOUSE 

HE Summit House is a large, solidly built 
structure, 76 feet wide by 104 feet long, four 
stories high. Wide piazzas surround two stories 
and the upper story is a large observation 
room (48 x 80 feet), surrounded by windows 
of polished plate glass. This observation room 
is furnished with numerous telescopes for the 
free use of visitors. Maps of the United States 
Topographical Survey show the country with 
all the details of water, relief and culture, on a 
scale of about one mile to the inch, from 
Boston Bay to the Hudson River, and from 
Long Island Sound northerly inio\'ermont and 
New Hampshire. 

In the lower story is a spacious dining room 
where excellent meals are served at all times. 
Visitors will be sure of good service and an 
excellent cuisine. There is also a lunch- 
counter, and a beautiful rustic pavilion for 
those who bring their own lunches, but the 
house is not arranged for the accommodation of 
guests over night. A long-distance telephone 
connects with the outside world. 



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Lasthampton and Beyond, from Mt Tom 



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VIEW 





HE view from the summit of Mt. Tom is the 
prominent feature, as it is the most diversified 
and beautiful of any mountain view in the 
world. To some it suggests the Drachenfels 
on the Rhine, and to others Stirling Castle, but 
comparisons are not necessary, so much is true, 
and more, that in forty minutes from Holyoke 
one may sit above the din and heat of a 
summer day, in the world and yet apart from 
it, with as fine a vie\v a.s the earth affords, 
satisfied by the variety presented. 

" Nature is saturated with beauty" writes a 
prominent author, and those whose perceptive 
powers are not at fault cannot but appreciate 
the beauty of Nature in the splendid panorama 
that surrounds Mt. Tom. In late afternoon, 
when the mist and light make the glory of a 
summer sunset, the feeling uppermost is one of 
enjoyment and admiration, and one forgets 
himself in the delights of a bird's existence, for 
we must look from a great height to realize, in 
a flood of sensations, that the poetry of air is 
liberty. 



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ATURE dips her pencil in many colors to tint 
the landscape from Ai)ril to November. It is a 
long and varying scale, from the delicate tint ol 
the first leaves of the birches to the brilliant 
colors of the fall maples. Each day has its 
peculiar beauties. The intermittent shadows 
and sunlights of a day in spring, chasing each 
other across fields and mountains, tint a 
picture that art's pencils and pigments cannot 
equal. A glimpse of this picturesque portion 
of our planet makes the excitement and 
annoyances of business and social life appear 
unreal and ridiculous. The sense of proportion, 
gained here, is one of the signs of sanity and 
health. "Nature is ready to mother us all if 
we will only let her. The quietude of her 
heights is medicine for the fret and fever of 
life." 

One visitor has testified: — 

"Upon the summit of Mf. Tom 
I sit and dream. The moments ^o 
Like blessed messengers of rest, 
And life is good, and life is best. 
The sun is setting. By his glow 
The fairy world is amber-kissed; 
The ii[)per world's a crimson mist. 
And, 'tw'ixt the two, my dream-slu()s 
Come to old Mt. Tom. ' 



^^^::STFIELD 



HAMPTON POND 



ASHLEY POND 



WEST 

'SPRINGFIELD 



HOLYOKE 









f^PRIN<TF|1;LD 



CHICOPEK 



CHICOPEK FALLS 



WILLIAM SETT 





LN'DIAN OU<nARD 



Copyright. 1912. by Poole Bros.. Chicago 



Bird's-Eye View of Mt. TciJ 




Ml. Tom and Mountain pAjf 



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MOUNTAIN 



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HE view from Mt. Tom is one of infinite 
variety. It is a rare pastime to watch the sky 
from the piazzas, or from some cozy nook of 
the palisaded trap-rock, and see the glorious 
cloud-pictures, with their ever-varying effects, 
on favorable days for vapory formations. 

Afar off (fifty-one miles) to the north, in the 
Granite State, is the massive bulk and im- 
pressive outlines of Monadnock (3, 186 feet) 
with its rock-armored peak, a kingly mountain, 
from this distance a great softened shadow 
against the sky. To the- northwest is "Hay- 
stack," near Wilmington, Vt., and Stratton 
Mountain, miles beyond " Haystack." On 
a very clear day Mt. Ascutney, Vt. (3,228 
feet), eighty-five miles distant, can be seen 
through the most powerful telescope. To the 
east is Wachusett (2,108 feet), sixteen miles 
northerly of Worcester. To the west is Grey- 
lock, m Berkshire (3,535 feet), the highest land 
in Massachusetts. Near Greylock is the 
tunnelled Hoosac Mountain (2,480 feet), and 
farther to the north is Marlboro Mountam. 



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EARER is Bald Mountain (1,690 f(;et), near 
Shelburne Falls, and Mt. Grace (1,628 feet), 
near Warwick, and Mt. Tobey (1,275 feet). 
Near Mt. Tom (1,218 feet) are Mt. Holyoke 
(984 feet) and Norwottuck (1,115 feet). 
Northerly, beyond the Sugar Loaf Mountains, 
is Greenfield, a typical New England shire- 
town. 

Five miles away is Northampton, with the 
buildings of Smith College in plain \ iew; 
also the state asylum for the insane. Easterly, 
less than four miles away, is South Hadley, 
where Mary Lyon, October 3, 1836, founded 
Mt. Holyoke College. The brownstone tow er, 
\\ ith large clock-dials, is on the Administration 
Buildmg. It doesn't seem to be three and one- 
half miles to the city-hall tower of Holyoke, 
the great paper-making city of this country. A 
leading papermaker of Holyoke once issued a 
standing challenge to "All England" to produce 
better paper than is made at Holyoke. Beyond 
is Chicopee and Chicopee Falls, producers of 
cotton cloth and automobiles. 



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Looking South from Mt.Tom 



Copyright. Detroit Publishing Co. 



Twenty 



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A Lily Pond, Mountain Park 



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OUTHERLY, on a tower of the United States 
Armoty at Springfield, floats the flag of our 
country. On clear days, nearly thirty-five 
miles to the south, the golden dome of the 
Connecticut State Capitol of Hartford can be 
plainly seen. West of the Mt.Tom range is 
Westfield, whose whips are snapped and 
cigars smoked all over the country. Near 
the foot of the mountain lies Easthampton, 
where Samuel Williston devoted some of the 
profits of his button manufactory to the building 
and endowment of Williston Seminary. To 
the south is Sufiield Institute and to the east 
is the Wesleyan Seminary, at Wilbraham. ' It 
is doubtful if there is another section in New 
England where so many educational institu- 
tions can be seen from one summit. To the 
northeast is Amherst, with its two colleges. 

"The beauty and the majesty of earth 
Spread wide beneath. . . There, as thou standest, 
The haunts of men below thee, and around, 
The mountain summits, thy expanding heart 
Shall feel a- kindred with that loftier world 
To which thou art translated, and partake 
The enlargement of thy \ision." 




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NE can see the Deertield of Indian history, 
and Hadley, where the Cromvvellian rcj^icides 
led the settlers against an Indian attack, and 
where "fighting Joe Hooker" was born. Peru 
church is literally nearer the heavens than any 
other church in Massachusetts, yet Blanford's 
steeple is ambitious. Goshen, Haydenville, 
Williamsburg, Leyden, Shutesbury, Pelham, 
New Braintree, North Brookfield, Ludlo\\', 
Granby, Belcherto\Mi, Longmeadow, Enfield, 
Thorndike. Thompsonville, Rockville, Somers, 
Feeding Hills, West Springfield, Mittineague, 
East Hartland, Tolland, Middlefield, W^est- 
hampton, Southampton, Florence, Leeds, and 
Bay State are in view, besides many other 
places which may be pointed out to visitors by 
the person in charge of the observation hall. 

"A thousand beauries never seen before 
Glide with sweet surprises into my soul. 
Here sorrow, with a dimness o'er her face, 
Might be beguiled to smiles — almost forget 
Her sufferings, and in Nature's living book 
Read characters so lovely, that her heart 
Would, as it blessed them, feel a rising swell 
Almost like joy. An earthly paradise." 



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Looking Up the Incline 



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Going through Rock Cut. Ml. Tom Railway 




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Looking South ]r,„n l.oacr Station 




Near the "Zoo," Mountain Park 



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T. TOM is the geologist's paradise. The sum- 
mit rock shows distinctly the striae or scratches 
of the debris of the glaciers or ocean of ice that 
once covered this whole country. Granite 
boulders from afar north found resting places 
along the mountain's side; a fine specimen may 
be found on "Little Mountain," and a "bird- 
track" of huge size can be seen in a sandstone 
slab in front of the Summit House, brought 
thither from Mountain Park. 

The electric carfare from Holyoke postofHce 
to the foot of Mt. Tom is -5 cents. The fare 
on the Mt. Tom Railroad is 25 cents for the 
round trip, which includes free use of grounds, 
pavilion, use of telescopes, etc. Fares to summit 
of Mt. Tom and return, on electric railway, 
are as follows: Springfield, round trip, 55 cents ; 
Westfield, 65 cents; Northampton, 45 cents; 
Amherst, 65 cents; Easthampton, 45 cents; 
Williamsburg, 55 cents; Chicopee, 45 cents; 
Chicopee Falls, 45 cents. A fine automobile 
road leads from the main auto thoroughfare, 
up the Connecticut Valley to Mountain Park 
where cars may be taken to the foot of the 
Mt.Tom Railroad. 



C 

'a^e Twenty-eight 





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MOUNTAIN PARK 

ARS to Mt. Tom pass through "Mountain Park," 
probably the largest street railway park in the 
world, being owned by the Holyoke Street 
Railway Company and comprising more than 
400 acres. This park extends from the base 
of Mt. Tom to the Connecticut River, and its 
extensive natural beauties have been added 
to by carefully planned improvements without 
detracting from the charms of its wildness. 
Within its limits there has been uncovered a 
large tract of sandstone, bearing footprints made 
thousands of years ago, outlasting every work 
of man. 

During summer seasons, in the Mountain 
Park Casino (which has a seating capacity of 
2,500), musical comedies and operas are daily 
presented, afternoons and evenings. Besides 
pleasant walks, observation towers and tables 
for picnic parties, there are flowers in i)rohision, 
a deer park and zoo. Also a restaurant build- 
ing, pavilion for dancing, merry-go-round, pho- 
tograph gallery, Y. W. C. A. cottage for women 
and children, and the lower staticni of the 
Mt. Tom Railroad. 



55 



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Another V'^iew of the Summit House 




Rustic Lunch Pavilion near Summit House 



Thirty 



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Mountain Park and Conneclicul River, from Mt. Tom 



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POOLE BROS. CHICAGO 



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